News and Events

CEEM Alumnus Michael Abrahams, P.E., Wins the 2012 ASCE OPAL Lifetime Achievement Award

03/01/2012

Mike Abrahams, BS 1963, MS 1964 (Engineering Mechanics), Technical Director of structures for Parsons Brinckerhoff,  has been named the 2012 OPAL (Outstanding Projects and Leaders) Lifetime Achievement Award winner in the design category by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

During a 46-year career, he has had significant roles in the planning, design, and construction of all types of bridges - especially major long-span and movable bridges including lift, sliding, floating, bascule, and swing.

Mike will receive the award at the annual ASCE gala in March in Arlington, Virginia.  According to the ASCE, "The program celebrates the achievements of the civil engineering leaders who have designed and built the world's most recognized and important infrastructure systems."

The OPAL awards are given annually in five categories: construction, design, education, government, and management.  In receiving an OPAL award, Mike joins Parsons Brinckerhoff luminaries Jim Lammie, our former Chairman and CEO, who
won the honor in the management category in 2001, and Lou Silano, one of Parsons Brinckerhoff's most well-known technical leaders, who won in the design category in 2005.

The OPAL award is a great tribute to Mike, whose career has spanned more than 45 years, 40 of which have been at Parsons Brinckerhoff, and includes some of the firm's most notable projects, such as the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge in South Carolina; the George C. Coleman Bridge Replacement in Virginia; the Admiral Clarey Bridge in Hawaii; and the Hood Canal Bridge in
Washington (on which Mike worked 30 years ago and as recently as 2009); plus dozens of other structures.

The ASCE's announcement that Mike has won a 2012 OPAL award follows another prestigious industry honor he received in June-the John A. Roebling Medal bestowed by the International Bridge Conference, which also recognizes lifetime achievement in bridge engineering.

Mike Abrahams delivered the first Lou Silano Lecture in 2008.